I bought this mixer because I had a Kitchen Aid that I used to make bread doughs and kneading so many doughs broke the lock lever. I wanted a mixer that would both mix dough without worrying about breaking it and also could still be used for all the other things we used our Kitchen Aid for - whipping cream, cakes, cookies, mashed potatoes, etc.

First, I would say the mixer is very quiet when making bread and seems strong enough for bread dough. It isn't a "put it in and forget it" mixer but if standing by making sure everything is getting mixed for the first part is done, it does a nice job on the kneading part on the timer. Using the bread dough bowl is very quiet, but the mixer is very loud when the plastic bowl is used, at least louder than the Kitchen aid. I have been very pleased with the quality of bread doughs and it is a lovely attractive mixer to have sitting in the kitchen. I watched a lot of videos to get a feel for how to use it for dough but once I made 20+ doughs it's as quick as the kitchen aid and makes a larger volume dough with better smoothness so I don't have to make so many batches.

That said, I definitely prefer my Kitchen aid for most other things. The whipping of whipped cream is very fast and egg whites as well, and I think this mixer does those better. But for ease of cleaning and scraping the bowl, the plastic mixing bowl is messier and more difficult to clean. I was pretty hard on my Kitchen aid mixer so having to always make sure the butter is soft etc has been a bit of a pain. I would say the mixing is as good or better but cleanup is longer with more moving parts.

I wanted only one appliance in my kitchen and I feel this is an excellent dough maker, so it is worth the trade off for not being as handy for other things. The only thing I haven't tried yet is mashed potatoes but everything else I normally make in my mixer worked well.

The biggest downside is that the Kitchen aid was self-explanatory so my husband used it all the time. Now with the Anksarsrum being so much more complicated, he doesn't touch it (I guess more accurately I forbade him to touch it without watching the video first) and I have to do all the cooking he used to use it for!

If dough is your main thing, this is a great mixer. If you rarely make bread doughs, then I would say the Kitchen aid is a better buy - very durable, easy to clean up and no instruction required.

This stand mixer is definitely better suited to heavy whole wheat doughs like the ones our family enjoys. Our 12 year old KitchenAid 500 Pro would smoke after every batch of dough so knew it was time for change.

The Ankarsrum is very different and will take some getting used to but our first loaves were softer and fluffier than any of the ones from the KA we have made. The Ankarsrum is built like a tank and is very appealing to the eye. Most online review say to use the roller but we actually found the dough hook to work much better for our heavy whole wheat sourdough breads.

A word about the Ankarsrum warranty and sellers on Amazon. Ankarsrum will only warranty your machine for the full 7 years if you purchase from one of their approved vendors. The list is clearly placed on their website. CHOOSE wisely. Our first seller was terrible and had horrible customer service, but our second one offered UPS air overnight and had our machine to us the next day which was a Saturday for no extra price!

I love this mixer. There is no cheap plastic on it anywhere. I powered through heavy bread dough-four loaves worth at once- and it didn't even break a sweat. Cookie dough was a breeze. I love the dough roller attachment that comes with it: I think it works much better than a dough hook. (It came with that too.) Don't be afraid to spend your money on this mixer; not only is it a better mixer, but it comes with the metal bowl, the roller, a bread hook, plus a heavy plastic bowl with two different types of whisks (think whisking egg whites) and the adapter to work with them. Also a bowl scraper that works as you mix, and a small hand scraper. There is also a pretty decent cookbook, which also shows you the other accessories (meat grinder, sausage stuffer, etc.) in case you might be interested. I tried the toast bread recipe right off the bat, and was very pleased with the result. Bonus; it comes in lots of colors. I got the coral crush version, and it looks great in my 50's colors kitchen.

The machine is amazing, of course. I want to focus on the seller because there isn't a lot of info I can find on any sellers here on Amazon. These sellers for the ankarsrum we're fantastic. Shipped right away effectively triple boxed, kept in contact when UPS had extreme weather delays and were open to communication.
The ankarsrum is fabulous, wayyyy better at kneading dough than my HD pro KitchenAid. Still learning, only made two loaves but it gets thru the kneading super fast. Love the timer too.

Before you buy this, you've got to ask yourself two questions. Do I need a stand mixer? Do I need this obviously pricy one?

I needed a stand mixer because I wanted to make things that I didn't want to do by hand and which bogged down our hand held mixer. I picked this one because of the ratings.

So far I've made doughs, cookies, and whipped dips with this machine. It has done them all well. It is very stable and doesn't walk across the counter like some older stand mixers. It seems to have plenty of power. The speed control is easy to use and smoothly ramps from low to high. There's a timer on the on switch which is a useful convenience, though you never have to use it. Despite its power it doesn't seem to be quite as heavy as competing brands, and seems to be shorter. The mostly wide open top on the mixing bowls provides lots of room for adding ingredients as well as scraping the sides of the bowl when necessary without removing the hook, roller, or whisks (as appropriate).

So far it has no issues. The cost made me gasp a bit, but the quality seems to be there.